Comments on: Founder of Courage, Catholic ex-gay group, has died

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:54:29 +0000

Good. I hope he Burns in Hell for all the suffering he caused.

By: J. Philip Faranda

J. Philip Faranda — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 01:12:08 +0000

I concur that the Catholic teaching that gay people are “disordered” is a tragic error.

I recall in freshman theology class at Villanova how the professor, who had to be at least 70, had the intellectual honesty to say something to the effect that had St Thomas Aquinas gotten out much, then he’d understand that the “Natural law” he loved to invoke had different rules than he thought. There are examples all over nature of same sex relationships and plenty of other things Aquinas conveniently didn’t notice.

I am struck by the conciliatory nature of this post, however, and can say that from my perch that productive change will come from within. For now, I am at peace with the fact that I am a heretic for not believing that being gay is a disorder.

By: jojo

jojo — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 14:36:55 +0000

here we have another organisation that emphasizes the basic idea that being gay is inferior to being straight and wich is connected in many direct and indirect ways to other “ex-gay” groups and others of our political enemies.

in my opinion, to say that any of these organisations could be “mostly apolitical” is a basic misunderstanding of what “politics” are.

downplaying the evil political influence of any of these groups really doesn’t help the gay community in any way!

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:58:42 +0000

“An organization for celibate, Catholic homosexuals”?

Isn’t that called “the priesthood”?

By: Ken R

Ken R — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Right Justsearching. That’s just another attempt to justify the “hate the sin, love the sinner” stupidity. The “sin” comes about because of the nature of the “sinner”. If you hate the “sin” then you hate the nature of the “sinner” and hating the nature of the “sinner” means you hate the “sinner”. People’s actions are not divorced from who they are, people’s actions are determined in large part by who they are.

BINGO! Couldn’t have said it better!

By: Priya Lynn

Priya Lynn — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:02:28 +0000

By: justsearching

justsearching — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:40:01 +0000

“But I do appreciate that in recent decades the Church has made the distinction between ‘inclination’ and behavior.” Yeah… basically they’ve gone from telling people they must refrain from homosexual behavior to telling people to either change or reject homosexual inclinations. In my mind, there’s not too much to get excited about in the new phrasing of their God-given prohibitions.

By: Philip Lowe Jr

Philip Lowe Jr — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:07:00 +0000

I also am an ex-gay survivor of Courage. You can read my narrative of my experience with Courage at http://www.beyondexgay.com. After going to the web site, click on narratives and then look for my name, Philip Lowe, Jr. and clock to read my narrative.

Courage IS an ex-gay ministry that supports and recommends the material found at and by NARTH (National Association of Research and Therapy for Homosexuality). They do not oppose reparative therapy. The longer I stayed in the group the worse I felt about myself, my family and my relationship with God. Since I’ve come back out, started going to an Episcopal Church and got involved in a wonderful and healthy relationship, I have been much better off.

I do not find Fr. Harvey compassionate at all. His work is supported by the folks at EWTN and their therapists turn healthy gay and lesbian people into very unhealthy people. I know, I was there and I have been working really hard to bounce back from their damage ever since.

Happy New Year everyone.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:50:33 +0000

I used to be a part of Courage when I was trying to live celibately. I’ve met and talked to Fr. Harvey a few times, nothing really in-depth. I’ve also met Fr. Scalia-he’s quite a bit like his father, a strict interpretationist.

While Courage has always publicly stated that they don’t push people to go ex-gay, they certainly gave alot of support to those who did. I remember we had Robert Gagnon at one conference-he did not take kindly to attendees’ repeated attempts to explain the fine distinction in Catholic doctrine between inclination and action, calling both equally sinful.

Courage leaders tend to have a certain naivete-one conference was at a college campus in St. Louis-above the registration table were the campus fraternities’ engraved paddles. Way to go on not giving people ideas!

By: Clifton

Clifton — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:19:56 +0000

I wonder if the Phelps family will be at his funeral?